Runaway ex-lawmaker arrested, begins prison term

2012/05/04 13:33:14

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Former ruling Kuomintang Legislator Chiang Lien-fu, who ran away after being sentenced to four and a half years for vote buying, was arrested in Nantou County early Friday, prosecutors said.

Chiang and his wife were sound asleep when police found them at a bed and breakfast in Puli shortly after midnight, prosecutors said.

Chiang was calm and cooperative during the arrest, but did not disclose why he failed to show up to start his prison term, prosecutors said.

Immediately after Chiang was apprehended and questioned, he was sent to prison to begin serving his four-and-a-half-year sentence, prosecutors said.

The former lawmaker was supposed to report to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office on March 20 to begin his jail term. But instead of doing so, Chiang applied to have his sentence postponed and have his case moved to Changhua County.

Prosecutors subsequently lost contact with him.

Amid reports that Chiang had fled to China, he released a media statement April 30 dismissing the reports as nonfactual and stressing that he had no intention of fleeing the country.

Chiang said his 90-year-old mother was in chemotherapy for colon cancer, while his wife was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and needed surgery.

The politician said he would report to prosecutors after his wife's surgery and when proper arrangements were made for his family.